Last week I was at an international board meeting. While we’ve met countless times using Zoom over the last two years, it was our first in-person meeting since the beginning of 2020. Expectations were high as we welcomed new board members and reconnected with existing board members. There were lots to catch up on,… Read more »
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been having conversations with several founders about employee share ownership plans (ESOPs). An important ingredient of many fast-growing startups, ESOPs are used to align key team members to the long-term success of the business by providing them with exposure to the growth in equity value of the startup. Once… Read more »
The Australian Open captures the hearts and minds of Australians for the last two weeks of January each year. This year was no different, especially with the dream run of the world’s number one tennis player, Ash Barty, as she cruised into the finals of the grand slam. Despite being down in the second… Read more »
Strategy. It’s one of the most misused words in business. What does it mean? How should it be used? How can you benefit from having a well-considered one? Over the Christmas break, I reread AG Lafley and Roger Martin’s book Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works. Published in 2013, it sets out five key… Read more »
It’s that time of year. When stores put up Christmas decorations; when crowds gather at the beach; when one set of holidays drinks rolls into another; when the cricket occupies the big screen TV; when cicadas begin buzzing at night. It’s around this time, in the quieter moments, opportunities for reflection and introspection occur, along… Read more »
During one of my recent office hours, I was asked by a founder about how to best prepare for their first formal board meeting. While the two founders had previously held informal board meetings and separate sessions with an advisory board, this would their first meeting with external board members. The fast-growing startup had recently… Read more »
Last week I was chatting with a founder who claimed they had achieved product-market fit with their novel technology business. She and her co-founder had been working hard on the product for months. Their solution was in beta, it already had several users, and was generating valuable feedback from these users. She proudly explained that… Read more »
How do you develop a good relationship with your American inside sales team for growth? Why does your Australian developer have difficulties in managing her Pakistani development team? Is there a better way of negotiating terms with your Taiwanese quality assurance supervisor? A common topic of conversation I’ve had with startup founders recently has been… Read more »
You’re a product visionary. You’ve incorporated customer feedback into your business. Your revenue model is scalable. Your brand is on point and cutting through. Your prototypes and proof of concepts are gaining customer traction. Your metrics are pointing in the right direction. Now all you need is funding to support your go-to-market. While we’ve previously… Read more »
In the final of a three-part series, I explore key areas for innovation in 2021 From banking to healthcare, and cyber security to marketing, artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly being used by executives to drive efficiency and automate decisions. At last count, there are around 500 AI startups in Australia using machine learning to solve… Read more »
In the second of a three-part series, I explore key areas for innovation in 2021 Digital health came of age in 2020. There really is nothing quite like a global pandemic to drive innovation and modernise Australian healthcare infrastructure. And with growing levels of comfort and an increase in the number of health tech businesses… Read more »
In the first of a three-part series, I explore key areas for innovation in 2021 From remote working to a brave new world of digital healthcare, 2020 was another year where the impossible became possible through rapid advancements in technology. Necessity spurred tech companies to fast-track plans and use technology to solve problems that were… Read more »
When an investor asks a founder to reveal their financial model, they are looking for the best possible attempt to provide a consistent, financial representation of the expected performance of the startup. It consists of well thought out projections about the future of the business, and a properly structured, understandable, and dynamic spreadsheet with easy-to-read… Read more »
Historically most businesses have been either outside sales businesses with an army of people selling face to face, or inside sales business that sell remotely. The idea of reaching customers remotely is nothing new. The origins of inside sales date back to the 1950s when businesses were using telemarketing. But inside sales has evolved beyond… Read more »
Investor due diligence has one simple objective: to reduce the risk of the venture capital (VC) investor losing their money. In the early stages of a budding relationship between a VC and a founder, due diligence is an informal “get to know you” process. Startups are vetted on the basis of qualities such as the… Read more »
Job-ready sales talent edtech Earlywork banks $1.5 million Seed round 
Sweat re-equity: Bikini Body founders Kayla Itsines and Tobi Pearce buy back their fitness app 
Airtasker cofounder Jonathan Lui’s proptech app, Soho, banks $750,000 to hit $20 million valuation 
B2B BNPL BizPay, which hoped to list at a $400 million valuation, has been placed in voluntary administration 
Daily startup news and insights, delivered to your inbox.
